


Friends

by ohgodmyeyes



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Child Anakin Skywalker, Childhood, Darkness, Fantasy, Gen, Horror, Loneliness, Love, Melancholy, Miscommunication, One Shot, One of My Favorites, Pre-Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Sweetness, Weird, Young Anakin Skywalker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:28:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22654009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohgodmyeyes/pseuds/ohgodmyeyes
Summary: A little slave boy takes to collecting faeries because he is lonely.
Comments: 18
Kudos: 19





	Friends

A long time ago, somewhere far, far away, there was a very young boy named Anakin. He was blonde and fair, and his mother loved him very much. He lived with her on a sprawling farm on the outskirts of a village, along with the man who owned them. Their owner was not cruel; however, he did expect hard work from his slaves— and they _were_ his slaves. Anakin, though still quite small, was often put to task fixing things for his Master. He worked long hours, which made him feel tired and frustrated. 

Sometimes, in his somewhat cloistered servitude, he found himself feeling lonely as well.

This was why Anakin started collecting faeries.

It was an accident, at first: The boy stumbled upon them one day, doing what faeries like to do, in the midst of a very tall patch of dark viridian grass on the edge of his Master’s property. He was quiet when he arrived, so as not to disturb them; however, he soon could not help but reach out to try to take one of them in his hand.

She was very tiny and very beautiful, and she stared up in wonder at little Anakin for a few moments before she began to struggle against his grasp. When she did, he let her go... but was dismayed to find how very far away she flew from him when he did. He hadn’t meant to scare her. He tried to wave and smile and lure her back into his palm, but she would not come to him. Eventually he gave up on her, and went back home to his mother.

He talked to her about what had happened; when he did, she said to him, “Faeries are meant to fly, Ani. I’m sure the one you caught was very fond of you— but she belongs in the glade with her family. Just like you belong here, with me. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” said Anakin. “I understand.”

But he didn’t... not really.

Anakin returned to where he’d found the faeries the next time he had the opportunity; however, he was prepared this time: He’d brought an old glass jar from his Master’s workshop. There was a tiny amount of sweetened water in the bottom of it, to entice whichever faerie might decide she was curious about its presence in her space. 

Anakin set the jar down, sat before it, and waited.

Soon, one of the tiny creatures did come to examine it. She peered in over the edge first. Then, having smelled the sugar-water, she flitted inside to get a closer look. When she bent down to gather some of it up on her tiny hand for a taste, Anakin placed the lid on the jar. The faerie was trapped.

Anakin was delighted to be able to look at her so closely. He sat in the grass as she felt around the inside of her glass cage for a way out, and he studied her. He studied her hair, and her wings; her delicate arms, and her willowy little legs. He loved her— she was perfect. 

He took her home, and hid her from both his mother and his Master. Anakin was a smart boy, so keeping her concealed was not difficult for him.

All he saw when he looked at his faerie was her beauty, and so he did not notice her begin to lilt and wane as she exhausted the air in the jar with her frantic breathing. She was already tucked away for the night by the time she finally collapsed in the sticky water at the bottom of the container, and expired.

When Anakin woke, he looked at her, and opened up the jar. When she didn’t fly away, he smiled: His faerie had clearly decided that it was nicer here with him on his Master’s farm than in the glade with her family, and had chosen to stay. This delighted him as much as catching her in the first place. 

He wrapped her up very carefully in an old cloth so that she would not be uncomfortable while she slept, and placed her back underneath his bed. This was the safest place Anakin could think of; it was where he’d always kept anything and everything that had ever been special to him. So, he placed his faerie there.

When she failed to awaken, though, it made him feel a bit sad— and once again, he was lonely.

So he went back to the viridian glade.

He used his jar trick again, and in short time, he found himself in possession of a second little faerie. She was just as lovely and delicate-looking as the first one had been, and she made Anakin feel just as happy. 

He lidded the jar, and took her home.

She reacted to running out of oxygen in just the same manner as her sister: She flitted desperately around the inside of the jar for a little while; then she grew faint. Eventually— sometime in the night— she fell down into Anakin’s nectar, and her spirit left her. When he woke in the morning, he wrapped her up because she seemed so tired, and placed her next to his other faerie. Again, he was simply happy that she seemed to have chosen to be with him.

When neither of those first two faeries woke up again for little Ani, though, he set off to collect a third.

His faerie collecting continued this way, until one day his mother decided to clean up his tiny room. She was frightened and horrified to discover a lovingly-wrapped collection of dried-out, dead sprites beneath her sweet young son’s bed.

“Anakin,” she said that evening, as he walked in from their Master’s workshop. “What is the meaning of this?” She brought him into his room to look at the row of deceased faeries she’d pulled out from under where he slept, having lined them all up on the floor.

“They’re my friends,” answered Anakin calmly. “They wanted to stay here with me, so I let them.”

Very gently, his mother began to explain, “Ani, these faeries have died...”

Anakin looked at them; knelt down low so that he could see them very closely, because he loved to see them closely. 

“...I know they’ve died, mother.”

She shook her head. “Then why do you keep them here, son? I told you that faeries belong in the glade, didn’t I?”

“You did,” admitted little Anakin. “But once faeries die, they turn into angels, don’t they?”

She _had_ told him that; however, she was now beginning to wish that she hadn’t. 

“Well, yes Ani, but...”

He interrupted her, “Then it’s okay, isn’t it mother? If they turn into angels, then they can never really die— not for real. That way, they’ll stay with me, and I’ll always have lots of friends.” He looked up and smiled at her. “Isn’t that nice? It’s nice for the faeries, and it’s nice for me, too.”

He went to work, then, gathering his collection so that he could put them back where he liked to keep them; where he thought he knew they loved to be.

His mother sighed, and kissed his head, and let him do it in spite of how it made her feel, because she did not want her son to be lonely.

Anakin deserved to have friends.

Anakin needed an angel.

**Author's Note:**

> This was largely inspired by a lovely WIP I’m reading right now. I’ll link it if / when the author says I can. 💕


End file.
